


Split Ties

by HawkeTheKasbah



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And as it so happens neither do demons, Brief mention of Anders and Merrill, Dunno if it'll make you sad but it sure breaks my heart writing it, Horses don't like Hawke, I don't normally do angst but there's a first time for everything, I make me sad, It took me forever to try and piece it together, M/M, Post-Adamant Fortress, Post-Here Lies the Abyss, Probably., Western Approach, coincidence?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 00:29:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7991935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkeTheKasbah/pseuds/HawkeTheKasbah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fenris does something dumb, Hawke is angry and wants to hit something, Varric tries to help, and the Establishment just can't seem to do anything right. Just another day in Thedas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Split Ties

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally do angst but there's a first time to be in self-inflicted emotional pain, yeah? Just kidding, that happens way too often. Anyways, I tried.  
> I do feel the need to make sure that everyone knows that this is in fact slightly canon-divergent, and though I put it in the tags, I want just put again to make sure that it is known.

_“Fenris!”_

Hawke fought against Alistair with all of his might, trying to break free.

“Let me go _now,_ Alistair!” The Inquisitor said nothing to dissuade Alistair, but grabbed hold of Hawke as well and helped him pull him out of the Fade.

He was yanked out, and the Inquisitor sealed the Rift behind them, sealing the demons and another away. Without the Inquisitor aiding Alistair, Hawke managed to elbow Alistair in the gut, break free, and punch him in the face.

“You bloody bastards!” He shouted at the both of them, quieted only slightly by the appearance of Varric and one of the Wardens that they’d worked so hard to save.

“Hawke, I understand that you’re angry—,” the Inquisitor began, but Hawke cut him off.

“You don’t know the half of it, Inquisitor. Open the rift. Open it now, I have to go back,” Hawke growled. He was just barely managing to restrain himself, sincerely, rather tempted to run the Warden through.

The Inquisitor met his glare with sympathy. Pity. “Hawke, you know quite well that I can’t. The Nightmare’s _thing—_ ,” he took note of the visible shudder emanating from the Inquisitor, “is in all likeliness still there. And Fenris…” at the glare that Hawke shot the Inquisitor, he faltered briefly, before plowing on with his sentence, “is unfortunately, in all likelihood, beyond our aid.”

“‘ _Beyond our aid?_ ’” Hawke scoffed. “I don’t bloody care whether you think that he’s ‘beyond your aid’ or not, open the damned rift. I have to get him.”

The Inquisitor fixed him with a gaze that shook him to the core. He’d seen that look before; he’d worn that look himself. Although the Inquisitor said nothing, it was quite clear what the message was, and it hit Hawke like a punch to the gut. _There is nothing that I can do,_ it said, _he’s gone._

Hawke’s face hardened and he turned away from the group of soldiers and their Inquisitor. He took his leave of them, saying that he would have to go to speak to the Wardens at Weisshaupt, ignoring Varric’s attempts to get his attention, to speak to him, calm him down. He pushed passed Cullen, who sent him a questioning look as he swept passed. _Leaving so soon? Where is Fenris?_

Hawke almost got a full mile away from Adamant before his rage finally got the best of him. He dismounted from his horse and began pacing back and forth. The small group of Venatori unlucky enough to be in the immediate vicinity were promptly dismembered in the most violent and unpleasant way that Hawke could manage with only the blade on his staff. He managed to spook his horse, forcing him to not only chase the horse for fifteen minutes before she calmed down enough to let him near her, but it also caused him to lose sight of the bodies, and by the time he had come back, the quillbacks had gotten to them.

Hawke, in his rage, managed to freeze one of the Venatori tents and set a quillback ablaze, spooking the horse for a second time. (He did however, manage to both catch and cook his dinner at once. The only thing good that came out of the situation, really.)

It took maybe three hours for the burning rage in Hawke to die down into an intense, aching sorrow. It should have been him. _It should have been him._ Fenris didn’t deserve this. It was Hawke’s fault that Corypheus was a threat in the first place, and now, yet again, everyone he loved had to pay for his mistakes. It was too much to bear. He laid back on the cool sand and stared unseeingly at the sky, letting his tears fall freely.

Dawn was rapidly approaching by the time that Hawke had cried himself dry, leaving him with his thoughts and the relative silence of the Western Approach. What would he do now? He couldn’t leave Fenris in the Fade, that was for certain. The Fade was taxing enough in the dream world, but it was a whole new level of terrifying actually physically being there. He couldn’t leave him. He wouldn’t. Weisshaupt could wait.

The sun broke over the horizon, causing Hawke to squint at the sudden brightness. He shoved as much of the quillback into his pack as he could and gave his horse some of the vegetables that the quillbacks luckily hadn’t touched as they picked apart the Venatori agents.

Sighing, Hawke heaved himself up onto his horse. First thing was first: he needed to find Anders. He knew that if he was going to get Fenris out, he’d need his help. Then, Merrill. She knew more about magic than possibly both Anders and himself put together, and if he could find her he knew that she would help him. The three of them may just find a way to get Fenris back. He stared at the rising sun as he urged his horse onwards, steeling himself for the journey to come. It wasn’t over yet. Not until he said it was.


End file.
